DOCSLIB.ORG

Are There Any New Factors Concerning the Bar-Kochba Revolt

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Are There Any New Factors Concerning the Bar-Kochba Revolt Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica XVIII, 2012, 161-193 ARE THERE ANY NEW FACTORS CONCERNING THE BAR-KOKHBA REVOLT? MENAHEM MOR1 Keywords: Bar-Kokhba revolt, ban of circumcision, foundation of Aelia Capitolina. Abstract: The author focuses his research on four main subjects concerning the Bar- Kokhba revolt: (1) Hadrian’s promise to rebuild the Temple, (2) the ban on circumcision, (3) the Foundation of Aelia Capitolina and (4) Bar Kokhba’s leadership. Rezumat: Autorul îşi concentrează analiza asupra a 4 puncte importante privind revolta lui Bar-Kokhba: (1) promisiunea lui Hadrian de a reconstrui templul din Ierusalim, (2) interzicerea circumciziei, (3) întemeierea Aeliei Capitolina, (4)conducerea lui Bar Kokhba. One subject that has been extensively discussed in the research on the Bar-Kokhba revolt is the question regarding the immediate factors that caused its outbreak. During the last two decades, this issue has been examined from several points of view.2 In my book, The Bar-Kochba Revolt: Its Extent and Effect, I discussed this at length. My main argument was that a revolt does not usually break out because of immediate causes. The decision to go to war against a superior military force, both in numbers and in organization, is the result of cumulative and continuous factors in the social, economic, national and religious spheres.3 Since the direct causes for the revolt have recently been raised once again for discussion, I shall focus my examination of them in light of the sources and research done in recent years on the following subjects: (1) Hadrian’s promise to rebuild the Temple, (2) the ban on circumcision, (3) the Foundation of Aelia Capitolina and (4) Bar Kokhba’s leadership. 1 University of Haifa, [email protected]. 2 MOR, RAPPAPORT 2001. See also the bibliographical appendix to this article. 3 MOR 1991. 162 MENAHEM MOR 1. Hadrian’s Promise to Rebuild the Temple Midrash Genesis Rabba, 64:29 In the days of R. Joshua b. Hananiah the [Roman] State ordered the Temple to be rebuilt. Pappus and Lulianus set tables from Acco as far as Antioch and provided those who came up from the Exile [i.e. Babylon] with all their needs. Thereupon Samaritans went and warned [the Emperor]: ‘Be it known now unto the king, that, if this rebellious city be builded and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute (mindah), impost (belo) or toll – halak’ (Ezra IV, 13): ‘mindah’ is land tax; ‘belo’ is poll-tax1; ‘halak’ is androtiga.2 ‘Yet what can I do,’ said he, ‘seeing that I have already given the order?’ ‘Send a command to them that they must change its site or add five cubits thereto or lessen it by five cubits, and then they will with draw from it of their own accord.’ Now the Community [of Israel] was assembled in the plain of Beth Rimmon; when the [royal] dispatches arrived, they burst out weeping, and wanted to revolt against the [Roman] power. Thereupon they [the Sages] decided: Let R. Joshua b. Hanania go, as he is a master of Scripture. So he went and harangued them: A wild lion killed [an animal], and a bone stuck in his throat. Thereupon he proclaimed: ‘I will reward anyone who removes it.’ An Egyptian heron, which has a long beak, came and pulled it out and demanded his reward. ‘Go’, he replied, ‘you will be able to boast that you entered the lion’s mouth in peace and came out in peace’ [unscathed]. Even so, Let us be satisfied that we entered into dealings with this people in peace and have emerged in peace 4 (Midrash Rabbah, Genesis, Translated by Freedman, H).3F 4 בימי ר' יהושע בן חנניה גזרה מלכות שיבנה בית המקדש, הושיבו פפוס ולוליאנוס טרפיזין מעכו ועד אנטיוכיה והיו מספיקים לעולי גולה, אזלין אילין כותאי ואמרין ליה ידיע ליהוי למלכא דיהן קריתא דך תתבנא ושוריא ישתכללון מנדה בלו והלך לא ינתנון (עזרא ד יג) מנדה זו מידת הארץ, בלו זה פרוביגרון, והלך לאדרוטינה, אמר להון מה נעביד וגזרית , אמרין ליה שלח אמר להון ישנוניה מן אתריה אי יוספון עלוי חמש אמין או יבצרון מיניה חמש אמין ומן גרמון אינון חזרין בהון. הוין קהלייא מצמתין בהדא בקעתא דבית רמון , כיוון דאתון כתביא שורון בייכין בעיין ממרד על מלכותא, אמרין יעול חד בר נש חכים וישרך ציבורא, אמרין יעול ר' יהושע בן חנניה דהוא אסכולסטיקה דאורייתא, על ודרש אריה טרף טרף ועמד עצם בגרונו, אמר כל Are There Any New Factors Concerning the Bar-Kokhba Revolt? 163 This source describes the promise made by Hadrian to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. The plan failed because of the subversions of the Samaritans, and its cancellation nearly led to a Jewish revolt against Hadrian. Since I have adopted the approach of those researchers who discount the 5 historical value of the source, I shall not expand on this matter.4F In my view, this text belongs with a number of Jewish anti-Samaritan sources that try to present the Samaritans as the schemers behind most of the 6 calamities that befell the Jews.5F 2. The Ban on Circumcision Historia Augusta, Hadrianus 14.2: Moverunt ea tempestate et Iudaei bellum, quod vettabantur 7 mutilare genitalia. 6F This line in the biography of Hadrian, from a collection of biographies of the Caesars called Historia Augusta, has been interpreted as evidence that Hadrian forbade the Jews to perform circumcisions. The problematic nature of the Historia Augusta in general, and the biography of Hadrian in particular (which is ascribed to an imaginary author named 8 Spartianus), are well documented.7F דאתי מפק ליה אנא יהיב ליה אגריה, אתא הדין קורה מצרייה דמקוריה אריך ויהיב מקורה ואפקיה, אמר ליה הב לי אגרי. אמר ליה אזיל תהוי מגלג ואמר דעלת לפומיה דאריא בשלם ונפקת בשלם, כך דיינו שניכנסנו באומה זו בשלום ויצאנו בשלום (בראשית רבה סד, כט מהדורת תיאודור-אלבק, 710–712) 5 MOR 1991, 171-173. 6 MOR 2003a, 172-175. 7 For the different translations of the phrase mutilare genitalia, See for example: David Magie: “At this time the Jews began war, because they were forbidden to practise circumcision" (The Scriptores Historiae Augusta, translated by Magie D, LCL, Vol. I, Cambridge, Mass. 1921, 45). M. Rabello: “At that time the Jews, too, began war because they were forbidden to mutilate (mutilare) the sexual organs” (RABELLO 1995, 187); Isaac “At this time the Jews started a war because they were forbidden to mutilate their genitals” (ISAAC 1998, 277); Golan: The Iudaei began war because they were forbidden to damage a necessary part of the male's genital organs" (GOLAN 1988, 338). 8 On the Historia Augusta, see: SYME 1971a. See also GOLAN 1989. 164 MENAHEM MOR Ronald Syme has already drawn attention to the fact that the Jews provide a rich variety of peculiarity, and therefore the [work] contains comic aspects: The concern of the Historia Augusta with the Jews was not, it appears, either sustained or notably malevolent. Fun and oddities rather than any preoccupation with cult and race and nationality.9 David Golan also draws attention to the grotesque and ironic style of writing in Historia Augusta. In his view, circumcision is mentioned in a context of mockery for the sake of thaumasia (an extraordinary kind of the strange-grotesque that also arouses amazement). In his words: No less telling is the fact that the editor-author rather than choose the prevailing technical or juridical term for describing circumcision in his text, that is circumcidere, preferred an expression which bluntly associated it with castration. The literary effect to which the writer aimed seems obvious, combining erotic innuendos and scoffing remarks on account of the oddity of the Iudaei.10 In a similar manner, Benjamin Isaac notes: It is worth noting that the SHA does not mention circumcision but mutilation. The implication is that this was a ludicrous rebellion, for who in any sense would go to war because he was forbidden to mutilate his genitals?11 Nevertheless, Moshe David Herr and Alfredo Mordechai Rabello maintain that the only cause for the revolt was the ban on circumcision. Herr explains that circumcision was perceived by Hadrian as castration and thus imposed on the Jews the decree forbidding castration. He finds 9 SYME 1971b, 68. 10 GOLAN 1988, 338. See: ISAAC 2005, 64. 11 ISAAC 1998, 277-278. See also: ISAAC 2004, 472-474. Are There Any New Factors Concerning the Bar-Kokhba Revolt? 165 support for his view in Midrash Bereshit Rabbati which will be discussed 12 later on.11F Midrash Bereshit Rabbati, 17, 1: R. Yudan said: When Turnus Rufus banned circumcision, a man circumcised his son and went up to the Bema and was caught. He asked him: Didn’t you hear that I prohibited? He answered: I heard. He asked him: So why did you circumcise your son? He answered: Two set at me the prohibition; the king said that I shall do and his servant ordered not to do. Which one should I fulfill? Turnus Rufus told him: The king allowed circumcising and I said not to circumcise, he will come and deal with you. The baby replied from the bosom of his mother and said: You are exempt. Since Turnus Rufus noticed that he is an infant, he said: He did not say it on his own, but he told it to me, and he dismissed 13 him12F In his discussion of the sources that relate to the ban on circumcision, Aharon Oppenheimer claimed that these sources refer to the religious 14 decrees that Hadrian promulgated after the suppression of the revolt.13F He shares the opinion of scholars who find in Historia Augusta a clear intention to arouse laughter and ridicule towards the Jews, exactly as Martial did in one of his epigrams: Menophilus’ person a sheath covers so enormous that it would be sufficient for the whole tribe of comic actors.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Betar and Aelia Capitolina: Symbols of Jewish Suffering Dr
    Betar and Aelia Capitolina: Symbols of Jewish Suffering Dr. Jill Katz Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yeshiva University Of the five specific tragedies that warrant fasting on Tishah b’Av (Mishnah Taanit 4:6), two are related to the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome. The first is the capture of the city of Betar (135 CE) and the second is the plowing of Jerusalem one year later. At first glance, these calamities do not seem to be of the same scale as the destruction of the First and Second Temples. The Jews were neither forcibly removed en masse to a distant land nor was a standing Temple destroyed. Perhaps one could argue that their inclusion within the list was simply due to their still being fresh in people’s memories. Surely, the rabbis of the Mishnaic period would have encountered eyewitnesses to these events and been moved by their recollections. Yet, if this were so, then the Mishnah really need only include one reference to the rebellion. By including two, the Mishnah is teaching us something about the magnitude of this tragedy and the challenges that lay ahead for the Jewish people. Betar If not for the Bar Kokhba rebellion, it is unlikely many people would be familiar with Betar. The ancient city (Khirbet el-Yahud – “ruin of the Jews”) was a modest settlement southwest of Jerusalem in the Judean Hills. Surveys and brief excavations have demonstrated that Betar was first settled during the period of the Shoftim and became a city of moderate importance by the time of Hizkiyahu.
    [Show full text]
  • November 2014 Al-Malih Shaqed Kh
    Salem Zabubah Ram-Onn Rummanah The West Bank Ta'nak Ga-Taybah Um al-Fahm Jalameh / Mqeibleh G Silat 'Arabunah Settlements and the Separation Barrier al-Harithiya al-Jalameh 'Anin a-Sa'aidah Bet She'an 'Arrana G 66 Deir Ghazala Faqqu'a Kh. Suruj 6 kh. Abu 'Anqar G Um a-Rihan al-Yamun ! Dahiyat Sabah Hinnanit al-Kheir Kh. 'Abdallah Dhaher Shahak I.Z Kfar Dan Mashru' Beit Qad Barghasha al-Yunis G November 2014 al-Malih Shaqed Kh. a-Sheikh al-'Araqah Barta'ah Sa'eed Tura / Dhaher al-Jamilat Um Qabub Turah al-Malih Beit Qad a-Sharqiyah Rehan al-Gharbiyah al-Hashimiyah Turah Arab al-Hamdun Kh. al-Muntar a-Sharqiyah Jenin a-Sharqiyah Nazlat a-Tarem Jalbun Kh. al-Muntar Kh. Mas'ud a-Sheikh Jenin R.C. A'ba al-Gharbiyah Um Dar Zeid Kafr Qud 'Wadi a-Dabi Deir Abu Da'if al-Khuljan Birqin Lebanon Dhaher G G Zabdah לבנון al-'Abed Zabdah/ QeiqisU Ya'bad G Akkabah Barta'ah/ Arab a-Suweitat The Rihan Kufeirit רמת Golan n 60 הגולן Heights Hadera Qaffin Kh. Sab'ein Um a-Tut n Imreihah Ya'bad/ a-Shuhada a a G e Mevo Dotan (Ganzour) n Maoz Zvi ! Jalqamus a Baka al-Gharbiyah r Hermesh Bir al-Basha al-Mutilla r e Mevo Dotan al-Mughayir e t GNazlat 'Isa Tannin i a-Nazlah G d Baqah al-Hafira e The a-Sharqiya Baka al-Gharbiyah/ a-Sharqiyah M n a-Nazlah Araba Nazlat ‘Isa Nazlat Qabatiya הגדה Westהמערבית e al-Wusta Kh.
    [Show full text]
  • Torah Weekly
    בס״ד TORAH WEEKLYParshat Va’etchanan 22 - 28 July, 2018 A GODLY bilitation process after the beds, calling out, “Shema 10 - 16 Av, 5778 liberation of some of the de- Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu, SPARK PLUG ath camps. While there, they Hashem Echad - Hear, Israel, Torah: During the Second were told that many Jewish the Lord is our God, the Lord Deuteronomy 3:23 - 7:11 World War, countless Jewish children had been placed in is One!” parents gave their precious a monastery in Alsace-Lor- As they did this, child raine. Without hesitation, the after child sat up in their beds Haftorah: children to Christian neigh- bors and orphanages in the rabbis went there to reclaim and began to recite the Shema Isaiah 40:1 - 26 hope that these would provide them. along with the rabbi. Some When they appro- even raised their hands to TORAH STUDIES safe havens for them. The pa- ached the priest in charge, cover their eyes, as they had We have many rents hoped that they, or their relatives, would take these they asked that the Jewish been taught by their mothers. Judaic topics for you to children back if they survi- children be released into the They remembered study. We will provide ved the war. The few parents rabbis’ care. “I’m sorry,” the their mothers and fathers reci- the material and cour- who did not perish in the priest responded, “but there ting the Shema with them as ses. Please write to us Holocaust, and were able to is no way of knowing whi- they put them to sleep when for more information.
    [Show full text]
  • The Nonverbal Language of Prayer
    Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism Texte und Studien zum Antiken Judentum Edited by Martin Hengel and Peter Schäfer 105 Uri Ehrlich The Nonverbal Language of Prayer A New Approach to Jewish Liturgy Translated by Dena Ordan Mohr Siebeck Uri Ehrlich: Born 1956; 1994 Ph.D. in Talmud and Jewish Philosophy, Hebrew University, Jerusalem; Senior lecturer, Department of Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University. ISBN 3-16-148150-X ISSN 0721-8753 (Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism) Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie; de- tailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de. © 2004 by Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, Germany. Authorised English translation of "n:-ßxn 'ra^a © 1999 by Hebrew University Magnes Press, Jerusalem. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that permitted by copyright law) without the publisher's written permission. This applies particularly to reproductions, translations, microfilms and storage and processing in electronic systems. The book was printed by Guide-Druck in Tübingen on non-aging paper and bound by Buchbinderei Spinner in Ottersweier. Printed in Germany. In memory of my grandparents Martha and Arthur Dernburg Preface to the English Edition Prayer has many names: tefillah (petition), tehinah (beseeching), le'akah (shouting), ze'akah (cry), shavah (cry for help), renanah (cry of prayer), pegi'ah (plea), nefilah (falling down); amidah (standing). (Tanhuma, Va-ethanan 3) This midrash highlights the multidimensional nature of the Prayer and names a variety of expressive means alongside the Prayer's verbal aspect. It is this book's aim to portray the nonverbal components of the Prayer - physical gestures, attire, and vocality - and to demonstrate their impor- tance for, and integrality to, the prayer-act.
    [Show full text]
  • Munkács: a Jewish World That Was
    MUNKÁCS: A JEWISH WORLD THAT WAS Anna Berger BA (UNSW), MA (Sydney University) A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies The University of Sydney July 2009 Contents Declaration iv Abstract v Dedication vi Acknowledgements vii Chapter 1. Introduction Aims of this thesis 1 Chapter 2. Methodology 3 Searching for sources 3 Published material 6 Oral histories and Survivor testimonies 7 The process of obtaining oral histories 9 Chapter 3. Munkács: A brief history 12 Chapter 4. The Jews of Munkács 18 Munkács cityscape 20 Family life 23 Making a living 27 The home 34 Shabbat and Jewish Festivals 39 Transport 46 Social life in the city 48 Youth groups 53 The Hasidim 55 ii Jewish communal governance and general politics 58 Zionism 60 Education 61 Chapter 5. Inter-ethnic relations 70 Jewish – Rusyn relations 71 Jews, Hungarians and Germans 72 Jews and Gypsies 73 Jewish – Czechoslovak relations 74 Chapter 6. Death of a community 76 Post Liberation 81 Chapter 7. Conclusion 82 Bibliography 83 Appendixes: 1. The Interviewees 86 2. Pre-interview letter and questionnaire 89 3. Interview questionnaire 91 4. Munkács/Mukačevo Photographs 94 iii Declaration I certify that the contents of this thesis have not been submitted for a higher degree to any other university or institution. The extent to which I have availed myself of the work of others is acknowledged in the text of this thesis. iv Abstract Prior to World War II an estimated 11 million Jews lived in hundreds of communities throughout Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • Texts and Traditions
    Texts and Traditions A Source Reader for the Study of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism COMPILED, EDITED, AND INTRODUCED BY Lawrence H. Schiffinan KTAV PUBLISHING HOUSE, INC. 1998 518 Texts and Traditions Chapter 10: Mishnah: The New Scripture 519 tory only those observances which are in the written word, but need not ancient customs. For customs are unwritten laws, the decisions approved observe those which are derived from the tradition of our forefathers. by ~en of old, not inscribed on monuments nor on leaves of paper which the moth destroys, but on the souls of those who are partners in 10.2.2 Philo, The Special Laws IV, 143-150: 40 the. same c~tizenship. For children ought to inherit from their parents, Written and Unwritten Law besides their property, ancestral customs which they were reared in and Philo discusses both the immortality of the written law} and the obligation have lived with even from the cradle, and not despise them because they of observing the customs, the unwritten law. Although the Greek world had a h~ve been handed down without written record. Praise cannot be duly concept of unwritten law, Philo's view is clearly informed by Jewish tradition given to one who obeys the written laws, since he acts under the admoni­ and by the Pharisaic concept of tradition. tion of restraint ~nd the fear of punishment. But he who faithfully observes the unwritten deserves commendation, since the virtue which he ~ displays is freely willed. Another most admirable injunction is that nothing should be added or 10.2.3 Mark 7: The Pharisees and Purity taken away,41 but all the laws originally ordained should be kept unaltered just as.
    [Show full text]
  • Israeli Settler-Colonialism and Apartheid Over Palestine
    Metula Majdal Shams Abil al-Qamh ! Neve Ativ Misgav Am Yuval Nimrod ! Al-Sanbariyya Kfar Gil'adi ZZ Ma'ayan Baruch ! MM Ein Qiniyye ! Dan Sanir Israeli Settler-Colonialism and Apartheid over Palestine Al-Sanbariyya DD Al-Manshiyya ! Dafna ! Mas'ada ! Al-Khisas Khan Al-Duwayr ¥ Huneen Al-Zuq Al-tahtani ! ! ! HaGoshrim Al Mansoura Margaliot Kiryat !Shmona al-Madahel G GLazGzaGza!G G G ! Al Khalsa Buq'ata Ethnic Cleansing and Population Transfer (1948 – present) G GBeGit GHil!GlelG Gal-'A!bisiyya Menara G G G G G G G Odem Qaytiyya Kfar Szold In order to establish exclusive Jewish-Israeli control, Israel has carried out a policy of population transfer. By fostering Jewish G G G!G SG dGe NG ehemia G AGl-NGa'iGmaG G G immigration and settlements, and forcibly displacing indigenous Palestinians, Israel has changed the demographic composition of the ¥ G G G G G G G !Al-Dawwara El-Rom G G G G G GAmG ir country. Today, 70% of Palestinians are refugees and internally displaced persons and approximately one half of the people are in exile G G GKfGar GB!lGumG G G G G G G SGalihiya abroad. None of them are allowed to return. L e b a n o n Shamir U N D ii s e n g a g e m e n tt O b s e rr v a tt ii o n F o rr c e s Al Buwayziyya! NeoG t MG oGrdGecGhaGi G ! G G G!G G G G Al-Hamra G GAl-GZawG iyGa G G ! Khiyam Al Walid Forcible transfer of Palestinians continues until today, mainly in the Southern District (Beersheba Region), the historical, coastal G G G G GAl-GMuGftskhara ! G G G G G G G Lehavot HaBashan Palestinian towns ("mixed towns") and in the occupied West Bank, in particular in the Israeli-prolaimed “greater Jerusalem”, the Jordan G G G G G G G Merom Golan Yiftah G G G G G G G Valley and the southern Hebron District.
    [Show full text]
  • Parshat Naso 5/18/2013
    PARSHAT NASO MAY 18, 2013 RABBI VERNON KURTZ The following story is told in Leviticus Rabbah as well as the Jerusalem Talmud: Rabbi Meir used to deliver discourses on Shabbat evenings. There was a woman there in the habit of listening to him. Once the discourse lasted a long time, and she waited until the Rabbi was finished. She went home and found her husband waiting for her. “Where have you been?” he asked. She answered: “I was sitting listening to the voice of the preacher.” He then said to her: “I swear I will not let you enter here until you go and spit in the face of that preacher.” The story goes on to say that she stayed away for three weeks from Rabbi Meir’s discourses. Her neighbors convinced her to go back to listen to him once more. As soon as Rabbi Meir saw them, he saw by the means of the Holy Spirit what had happened and said: “Is there a woman among you clever at whispering a charm over an eye?” The woman’s neighbor said to her: “If you go and spit in his eye you will release your husband from his vow.” She approached Rabbi Meir but was frightened. He said to her: “Spit in my face seven times and I will be cured.” She did so, and he said to her: “Go tell your husband: You told me to do it once, and I spat seven times.” The story tells us that Rabbi Meir’s students were upset with their teacher.
    [Show full text]
  • Jabotinsky's Children: Polish Jews and the Rise of Right-Wing Zionism
    © Copyright, Princeton University Press. No part of this book may be distributed, posted, or reproduced in any form by digital or mechanical means without prior written permission of the publisher. Introduction I spent much of the winter of 2010 rummaging through Warsaw’s Archive of Modern Records. Among the various documents in the archive’s posses- sion are tens of thousands of reports submitted by Polish police officers in the 1920s and 1930s concerning the political activity of interwar Poland’s Ukrai- nian, Jewish, Belarusian, German, Russian, Czech and Lithuanian minority populations, who together made up nearly one- third of the country’s inhabit- ants.1 Sifting through these reports, I hoped to gain a better understanding of the dynamic and turbulent political life of Polish Jewish youth on the eve of the Holocaust. One afternoon, after hours of fruitless searching, a particular police report caught my eye. It was written by a Polish officer dispatched in October 1933 to a Zionist rally in Kobryń, a market town of some nine thou- sand residents in eastern Poland. Perhaps to the officer’s surprise, the speeches of the Zionist rally’s organizers were not solely devoted to building a Jewish state in Mandate Palestine. Instead, the speakers, one after the other, insisted that it was the duty of Zionists to defend the borders of Poland. Among the speakers pledging their loyalty to Poland was a lanky nineteen- year- old with thick, round black eyeglasses and hair slicked to his side. The policeman decided to record his name. Men like
    [Show full text]
  • Jerusalemhem QUARTERLY MAGAZINE, VOL
    Yad VaJerusalemhem QUARTERLY MAGAZINE, VOL. 72, January 2014 Yad VaJerusalemhem QUARTERLY MAGAZINE, VOL. 72, Shvat 5774, January 2014 Holocaust Survivor, Ghetto Fighter, Published by: Yad Vashem Contents The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority Holocaust Survivor, Ghetto Fighter, Historian of the Jewish People ■ Historian of the Jewish People ■ 2-3 Chairman of the Council: Rabbi Israel Meir Lau Israel Gutman (1923-2013) Vice Chairmen of the Council: Revolt or Rescue? ■ 4 Dr. Yitzhak Arad Jewish Dilemmas from the Holocaust Dr. Moshe Kantor ■ On 1 October 2013, Prof. Israel Gutman, Prof. Elie Wiesel Egyptian Doctor Honored one of the giants of Holocaust research in Chairman of the Directorate: Avner Shalev for Berlin Rescue ■ 5 Israel and the world over, passed away in Director General: Dorit Novak Recognized as Righteous Among the Nations Jerusalem at the age of ninety. Head of the International Institute for Holocaust Mourning his passing, Yad Vashem Chairman Research: Prof. Dan Michman Education ■ 6-9 Avner Shalev said: “My mentor and friend Chief Historian: Prof. Dina Porat First-ever Seminar in Turkey ■ 6 Israel Gutman made a significant and unique Academic Advisor: Prof. Yehuda Bauer German Education Ministers Commit to contribution to the propagation of historical Members of the Yad Vashem Directorate: Fostering Holocaust Teaching ■ 6 awareness regarding the Holocaust and its Yossi Ahimeir, Edna Ben-Horin, Michal Cohen, meaning among the Seminar for Educators from China ■ 7 Matityahu Drobles, Abraham Duvdevani, wider public forum in Prof. Boleslaw (Bolek) Goldman, Recent International Seminars ■ 7 Israel, especially the Vera H. Golovensky, Moshe Ha-Elion, Adv. Shlomit Kasirer, Yehiel Leket, “Then and Now”: youth.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rise of the Zionist Right: Polish Jews and the Betar Youth Movement, 1922-1935
    THE RISE OF THE ZIONIST RIGHT: POLISH JEWS AND THE BETAR YOUTH MOVEMENT, 1922-1935 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND THE COMMITTEE ON GRADUATE STUDIES OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Daniel K. Heller August 2012 © 2012 by Daniel Kupfert Heller. All Rights Reserved. Re-distributed by Stanford University under license with the author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0 United States License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/ This dissertation is online at: http://purl.stanford.edu/bd752jg9919 ii I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Steven Zipperstein, Primary Adviser I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Norman Naimark I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Aron Rodrigue Approved for the Stanford University Committee on Graduate Studies. Patricia J. Gumport, Vice Provost Graduate Education This signature page was generated electronically upon submission of this dissertation in electronic format. An original signed hard copy of the signature page is on file in University Archives. iii ABSTRACT This dissertation charts the social, cultural and intellectual development of the Zionist Right through an examination of the Brit Yosef Trumpeldor youth movement, known eventually by its Hebrew acronym, Betar.
    [Show full text]
  • Why Did Beit Shean Let Betar Win? Latent Ethnic Solidarity and the Sports Ethic in Israel
    UCO C OO Why Did Beit Shean Let Betar Win? Latent Ethnic Solidarity and the Sports Ethic in Israel Tamir Sorek (university of fl orida) “You are not going to believe what you are about to see,” the Spanish television broadcaster warned his audience. He was reporting on a soccer game in Israel—not a subject of everyday interest for the international news media. Yet this particular match between Hapo’el Beit Shean and Betar Jerusalem, which took place on May 2, 1998 in the Kiryat Eliezer stadium in Haifa, was very much out of the ordinary. In fact, it was one of the strangest soccer games ever seen in Israel. A huge headline in Yedioth Ahronoth on May 3, 1998 summed it up in one word: “Shame.” What had happened? During the fi nal eight minutes of the game, with the score tied at 2–2, the Beit Shean team had “moved aside” and allowed Betar to score a win- ning goal. In the words of a Yedioth Ahronoth commentator: “I have watched soccer for 25 years, and I do not remember ever seeing such a bizarre, embarrassing, and shameful spectacle as the last eight minutes in Kiryat Eliezer.”1 Taking place in the penultimate round (29 out of 30) of the 1997–1998 soccer season, this game was particularly important. As in European countries, Israeli soc- cer teams compete in a hierarchical framework of leagues, the top two of which are known (since 1998) as Ligat ha’al (the premier league) and Haligah haleumit (the national league). Twelve teams compete in each league, and at the end of each sea- son, the bottom two teams in Ligat ha’al are relegated to the national league, while the top two national league teams are promoted to the premier league.
    [Show full text]